Miraculous: Before and After
by Silver-the-wyrm
Summary: Paris is hostage to Hawkmoth's control, leaving Ladybug and Chat Noir left in a near abandoned city trying to regain normalcy. With stress, homesickness, sleep deprivation, and fear the duo are facing their worst challenge yet. Will they ever be able to restore Paris? (Rated M to keep options open)


Prologue: Part 1

[They are around 15-16 in this fic] [sorry if it is shit, I've never had the drive to write anything before]

Setting:

The night was quiet and a full moon basked the city in a glimmer that shed light on empty streets and abandoned buildings. This was the new reality for Paris as Hawkmoth had grown into a power that allowed him to recruit willing and capable criminals to his cause. Ladybug and Chat were unable to contain the willing Akuma by themselves which left the city in destructive anarchy. Having Paris under siege by a supernatural force, the French government responded to the threat with a quarantine and a systematic processing of the city. The help of the military turned the tide and on the third month the duo were nearing the location of Hawkmoth.

Chapter start:

Marinette took a sip of hot cocoa that she made for herself while glancing towards Tikki who was happily eating the cookies she had made. "Quiet night isn't it Tikki?" Marinette said appreciating the rare lapse in Akuma havoc.

"Thankfully" Tikki nodded.

"Thankfully…." Marinette agreed as she stretched her sore limbs and felt the tug of sleep deprivation seep in. Despite her extreme fatigue, Marinette's mind was preoccupied with how worried her parents must feel. It had been three months since she had run away from home and her parents had long been evacuated out of the city.

Feeling homesick, Marinette opened her personal phone and started to go through pictures of her family. " _We will be home together soon_.."she thought to herself. Marinette continued to flipped through the pictures and smiled when she came across her friends Alya, Nino, and Adrian. She felt a tug on her heart for the past. She missed going to school. She missed the mundane days hanging out with friends and the drama of silly things like fawning over Adrian or fighting with Chloe.

" **Bzzt** " Marinette's work phone rang on the table in front of her and caused her to flinch. She looked at the phone almost afraid to pick it up, she wanted to keep enjoying the calm night.

" **Bzzt**!" The phone continued to ring.

"Answer it, maybe they already caught them this time." Tikki said trying to be cheerful despite looking as equally exasperated as Marinette.

Marinette gave a weak smile and grudgingly picked the phone up.

"This is Ladybug" Marinette sighed into the phone, refusing to hide her tiredness.

"Ladybug this is General Brooks, we have an isolated and captured an Akuma at 72 Rue de Turbigo. Immediate assistance in decontamination is needed. I have just sent you the address."

Marinette looked at her phone to confirm the location and distance on the gps. "I will be there within 5 minutes" she said wearily and hung up. "Time for spots Tikki."

As ladybug, Marinette hopped out the back of her current headquarters and started yo-yo'ing her way to the location of the Akuma. When she arrived on scene she saw Chat talking to the general in charge of the capture. Chat spotted her and smiled while waving her over.

"They are getting better at doing the hard part of the work for us" Chat said as Ladybug approached pointing to a bound and gagged man who was currently warped into an Akuma.

"I'll say" Ladybug responded with a pleased smile. "Only took them the better part of three months" she grinned.

"Slow learners." Chat said smiling with a wink.

"Humph" The general cleared his throat. The general maintained a stoic professional façade as he explained the situation "As you can see, Ladybug, we have detained the Akuma and have confiscated the object of origin. As soon as you cleanse the object of origin, we can question and ship this man out of quarantine." The general stiffly handed over a locket blackened from the Akuma with resentment in his eyes. The general was a proud man and disliked needing th help of Ladybug and Chat.

"Will do General Brooks" Ladybug replied with an awkward smile as she dropped the object and broke the Akuma out of the locket. Before the butterfly could fly away Marinette used her powers to neutralize the Akuma and repair an unusually large amount of damage to the city.

"My! He was a very messy man." Chat said appreciating the change while smiling at the repaired city.

"It made him easier to track" General Brooks pointed out. "We are still on the lead for this man's associate who managed to get away. We will contact you if we find him." He said walking towards his men.

"Do you need assistance in the mouse chase?" Chat said following after Brooks.

"No, he was a rather weak Akuma" The general stopped and scratched his head. "we would have had him captured too if he hadn't melted through the handcuffs." The General said irritated and waved away Chat. "Get some sleep while you can." The General turned and continued to walk over to his men.

"Well, you heard him lovebug, I'm going to catch some ZzZs before the next attack." Chat said walking back towards Ladybug. "Cats usually get 18 hours and I'm way short. I'll likely see you in a few hours" he said winking as he flicked out his pole for travel.

Marinette felt a pang in her heart. Her feelings of missing friends and family reared their head again as she watched Chat, her only friend in this mess, beginning to leave. "O-ok, see you" Marinette voice betrayed her and broke with emotion.

Chat looked back staring at her picking up the unusual tone. "A-are you ok, m-lady?" He said with a worried look.

Ladybug felt a tear well up. "I'm fine Chat, why wouldn't I be fine?" Marinette said smiling feeling half embarrassed. She was losing her usual demeanor.

Chat's smile dropped. " if you need to talk…" Chat started to reach out and comfort her.

 **Ladybug's earrings rang.**

"Gotta go Chat, transformation ending!" Ladybug said backing away.

"Then recharge and come ba…." Chat started.

"Too tired" Marinette yawned interrupting. The squint of the yawn allowed her tear to escape and roll down her face. Ladybug, feeling horrified, turned and quickly ran away.

Once Ladybug arrived back to her base she threw herself on her bed and screamed into a pillow while de-transforming. "Way to lose face Marinette!" She mumbled into her pillow scolding herself.

"Marinette…It's ok if you feel sad." Tikki said unsure how to comfort her partner.

"I'm fine Tikki" Marinette huffed while curling into a ball. "I just miss everyone, nothing to feel sad about."

Tikki pulled a blanket over Marinette. "Get some sleep, I'll listen out for the phone" Tikki said smiling "I'm sure we are getting close to ending this"

* * *

"Plagg… she was crying" Adrian said while inside one of the many apartments Adrian's father owned.

"It's a normal human thing" Plagg muttered while chewing on cheese.

"Do you think she has somewhere to sleep?" Adrian said pacing. "She always acted fine, so I just assumed… maybe something happened to her parents?" Adrian's mind was racing. "Is it because I haven't been sticking around afterwards?"

Plagg looked up from his cheese. "It's not like you two have a whole lot of time to talk before us Kwami lose our energy." He said grumpily. "So don't get any ideas to tax me more than you already are Adrian."

Adrian looked indignant at Plagg. "I'm only working hard so we can get life back to normalcy." Adrian huffed and sighed. Plagg was right, they were strapped for energy and extra time transformed for any other reason other than Akuma hunting was wasteful. "How can I talk to her without Ladybug and Chat?" Adrien thought frustrated with worry. If it were up to him he would just show himself and not worry about identity, but he respected her wishes to remain incognito.

"No clue" Plagg said absent mindedly.

"Too bad I can't just keep the suit a leave the powers" Adrian sighed.

"Yup, it's a package deal" Plagg said after finishing his meal. He then started to curl up on the leftover cheese.

Adrian rolled his eyes. " _How did I get stuck with this guy_?" Adrian thought to himself as he slumped on the couch and closed his eyes in thought. " _If only I could separate the Miraculous from the suit_ …." An idea struck and he jumped up. " _He is going to be so_ _catty_ _about this_ " Adrian thought.

"Plagg! Claws Out!" Adrian said loudly with a guilty look.

"W-what?!" Plagg said angrily as the ring started to suck the Kwami in. "Where the hell are we going?!"

"You'll see" Adrian said mockingly as Plagg gave him a death glare right before disappearing.

Transformed into Chat, he exited his apartment and vaulted through Paris. Le Grand Paris appeared in the distance and he landed in front of the large double doors.

" _Damn_ …" he thought to himself as he realized the doors had been barred to keep out looters. He backed up away from the building and toyed around with the idea of melting the door with a Cataclysm. Chat ignored the thought " _Too wasteful_ " and examined other entrance possibilities.

He spotted a cracked window on the third floor and grinned to himself. "The genius strikes again." Using his staff, Chat hoisted himself up to the cracked window and pushed it open to a point he could squeeze his body through. After getting his front end inside the window, a clumsy mis-step left him falling awkwardly forward.

"FUCK!" He said groaning while gripping his nose that smashed on the floor. It was bleeding everywhere. "There goes my modeling career…" he joked to himself as he pinched his nose and made his way to the nearest bathroom. After he stopped the bleeding he worked his way to Chloe's bedroom and looked inside.

Everything was untouched except for some evidence of rushed packing. Stepping over a few clothes that littered the floor, Chat walked over and opened Chloe's cosplay vault. "She didn't take it." He thought happily to himself as he marveled the near replica of Ladybugs costume. He quickly started to cram the ensemble into a small backpack.

Before exiting, a box labeled 'Sabrina' caught his eye and he decided to take a peek inside. "I guess she still stores this here." Chat thought as he pulled out a small feminine Chat suit.

Dirty thoughts from teenage hormones whispered in his ear regarding the skin tight leather suit. Chat shook his head willing the thoughts away. "The mask will work work for me" he said loudly as he felt his cheeks flush. He tossed the suit aside, packed the mask, and quickly made his way out of the building.

On his way home he saw the bright blaze of a fire in the distance.


End file.
